(as if anyone cares) The short version: Lots of teams keep their starters out of the final preseason game. This year, the Falcons have a Thursday opener. So they didn't just sit their starters. They sat basically everybody who was a lock to make the roster. Seriously - 42 guys were held out completely, while 6 other "roster locks" (by my count) only made appearances to fill out special teams units. They even signed an extra kicker and had the other extra kicker who was already in camp do the punting. All in all, that meant there were 40 prospects competing for (again, by my count) potentially five roster spots. Some of those spots might have even been decided already, with the coaching staff playing those third string prospects anyway just to get them experience. Anyone still reading? Okay, here are some more details for you die-hards: There were three noteworthy injuries. Third unit cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson got hit by friendly fire and suffered a hip injury. It wasn't serious enough to knock him off the roster - and for that matter, it was a bit of a surprise that he played, as he appeared to be ahead of two other guys who were held out. (Turns out one of them was held out due to injury, not because he had made the roster. Wreh-Wilson had to play simply because the team was a man short.) But he's OUT for the opener, and he may be out another week or two after that. Fortunately, it's likely that he would have been one of the team's seven inactive players anyway, so he can have some time to heal. (Sad but true: it was the only noteworthy hit that safety prospect Tyson Graham had made the entire preseason, and he hit a teammate. Way to go, ace.) The second injury was also avoidable. Unfortunately, the team didn't have an extra roster spot to sign a spare long snapper the way they signed the extra kicker. And long snapper Josh Harris takes pride in his special teams skills. As always, he hustled downfield on punt plays and made a tackle. Nice, but stupid. He's banged up, but it does appear he'll be able to play the opener. It was close though - the team actually signed a spare long snapper for the practice squad and had him doing the special teams practice segments this week in order to rest Harris. The final injury wasn't reported during the game, but apparently running back Malik Williams got banged up. He had THE highlight of the game for Atlanta as he hurdled a defender to extend a nice run. But he wasn't destined to make the roster anyway, and getting banged up meant that an injury settlement was part of his release. That makes him off limits to the Falcons for the duration of the settlement plus six weeks. Best guess is that he would have made the practice squad. For his sake, I'm hoping his agent was able to negotiate at least a three week injury settlement. The happy outcome for the Falcons on that one: last year the team had tried to stash fifth rounder Brian Hill on the practice squad in a midseason roster shuffle, but he got snatched by the Bengals. Cincinnati released him this week, and Atlanta signed him to fill the 4th RB spot as a member of the practice squad. So at least for now, one of our own is back in the nest. As for everything else in the game, who cares? It was a mix of Dolphins second and third unit guys playing against Falcons third and fourth unit guys. Yeah, that's exciting television. The only good thing for anyone who actually bought a ticket is they got to spend time in Mercedes-Benz Stadium and its bars and restaurants. Most fans had a great time. Many of them were even mildly aware that something was going on out on the field. Only one player who started the game for the offense (lineman Matt Gono) made Atlanta's roster, and only four of them even made the practice squad. Wreh-Wilson and two other defensive starters made the initial roster - all as third string players. One more got called up from the practice squad in mid-week. That one is not even listed on the depth chart. Fourth string? QB prospect Kurt Benkert started out okay, but after a few good throws were dropped by the scrub receivers and after repeatedly running for his life (the team's #6 OT was "protecting" his blind side), he got rattled and made some poor decisions and poor throws. But he did make the practice squad. He'll get reps running the scout team offense, and those reps (working against the "real" defense on a regular basis) will be exactly what he needs. Linebacker prospect Jonathan Celestin had a mixed outing. Oddly enough, he didn't make either the roster or the initial practice squad in spite of being one of the "star" prospects of preseason. The team kept Richard Jarvis instead, with head coach Dan Quinn saying he made it largely because of his special teams skills. Celestin cleared waivers and is still available. There will be a couple of openings on the practice squad to fill after this week's game, so he still might end up as part of the team's plans. I'm hard pressed to think of anyone else even worth mentioning. Nearly everyone sucked, and nearly everyone was released over the next two days. If anything, it's a surprise that so many of them were kept for the initial practice squad. For that matter, the big "winner" of the game might have been Alex Gray, the team's designated international prospect who will be part of the practice squad for the season. (He can't be signed or released, and he doesn't count as one of the regular ten practice squad spots. He's basically just a foreign exchange student, participating with the practice squad for the entire season.) It was his last chance to get some competitive action before he becomes invisible, and he got to play a total of 19 snaps - 8 on offense plus 11 on special teams. He was even targeted once on offense. But at that point of the game, even the TV announcers weren't paying attention. So no one noticed or cared that he wasn't able to make the catch. And with that, another preseason comes to an end. Now it's time for REAL FOOTBALL. Enjoy the season...
Atlanta Falcons 2018 Preview with Torgo https://live4sportnetwork.com/atlanta-falcons-2018-preview-with-torgo/
